METHODOLOGY

Data and nomenclature have been produced in cooperation
withthe University of California,
Information Center for the
Environment, Dept. of Environmental Science

Birds

Countries
and States-equivalents

Further
on in this website you will find an individual page for every country in the world larger than 20,000 km2. For Russia, India, Indonesia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, USA and Canada,
we list checklists for most states/provinces/departments usually leaving out very small
states. On each page you will find one or several individual tables with each species whose geographical range overlaps with the
territory of that country or that has been specifically recorded for that country.
The tables have been generated from huge databases that link all birds and
mammals of the world with
all the countries of their geographical distribution.

Sibley II for the birds

When
we started in 1999, we found that the Sibley and Monroe's A World Checklist of Birds was most
consistent with the majority of field guides we analyzed. However, since their
publication in 1993, lots of taxonomic development has taken place, and Sibley
composed a new list that was more than 300 species longer, mostly by upgrading
subspecies to the species level. In order to stay up to the latest developments,
we now collaborate with the Information Center for the Environment, Department
of Environmental Science and Policy of the University of California where Dr. Bob
Meese heads the biodiversity group. Our institutions frequently exchange data
and consult each other on nomenclature and recognition of species. Currently our joint worldlist list has 10017
species, which we elaborated and explained from:

For
nomenclature of all the birds of the world, we started out with the scientific names and English names. But we did not stop there. Our next step
was to look up the official names in other languages in so far as we could find
them. We now have lists for French
(99%), German (89%), Spanish (65%), Portuguese (35%).
You will find theses lists when you click the links to "worldlists" on
the navigation table.

Literature

Some
of the literature consulted for both nomenclatural reference and distribution assessment
(this list will be completed later on with books currently in use overseas by
our database manager and with the
many websites that we consulted):

In addition we
have consulted many official checklists for countries and states, where
available. Where possible, we have combined different sets of information to
determine the presence status and abundance.

Presence
status and abundance

The
presence status and abundance we have deducted from distribution maps and the distribution
listings in the consulted literature and from official checklists. For some
countries, the lists reflect potential distribution and not actual records as
they were interpreted from distribution maps.
In such case we have categorized them with a D. In a number of cases, the revision has been very specific, such as for countries with a national
bird guide or for guides with apparent checklist precision. In such cases the species are listed with a P, for present.
Some sources were precise enough to register the status of presence. For
more and more countries we are finding the official national checklist on the internet or some
users have sent up-to-date species lists. When we have come across a
species list of a birdwatcher of birdwatchers organization, the D's have been
replace by a P, or depending on the detail of the information by a more detailed
presence status.

We
have tried to harmonize the presence status and abundance as shown in the
following table. Those are our interpretations of characterizations from the
data reviewed by us. often, differences between "Migrant"
and "Wintering"; Nesting and Resident; Abundant and Occasional, etc.
vary per author. We have particularly struggled with the distinction between
Common and Occasional. We decided to set the distinction at about a hundred
species, based on several observations. First of all, many composers of
checklists for countries and states, often intuitively have made a distinction
for Occasional consisting of more than a handful, and certainly many less than a
thousand recorded observations. Only in a few cases, did authors or commissions
actually list the number of observations for Occasional. A similar observation
is true for Vagrants, where we arbitrarily put set the limit under 10
observations.

The
important thing is how to interpret such classification. Debatably, the
Netherlands could be the most densely birded country in the world, given its
number of birdwatchers per square kilometer, the small size of the country and
the very active rare bird alert services. The chances that an unusual bird is
observed in the Netherlands, is infinitely higher than in let's say the Republic
of Chad. The probability that you may encounter a species classified as vagrant
in the Netherlands is extremely low. On the other hand, a species classified as
vagrant in a country in Africa because it has less than 10 observations, may
actually be fairly common.

With
regard to the classifications of Nesting and Resident, some observations are in
place as well. Many species that spend their entire live in a country or state,
can be classified as Resident. But in reality, most bird species spend the
non-breeding season at a different location than their nesting season. In
areas of overlap we don't notice this, because an area may still have the
species around in both seasons, but they may be different individuals. From the
different methods of categorization by different authors and committees, we
interpreted the distinction between Resident and Nesting to our best
ability. When it is market as Resident, you know that you may expect the
species to be around in the country or state during the entire year and that it
is nesting. When it is marked as Nesting, you know that it is nesting, but it
may also be around during the non-breeding season, albeit in lower
numbers.

By trying to standardize this information, no
doubt errors have crept in. While dealing with so much info, we felt we needed to give
you some handle on what to expect. Would it be likely that you could have seen a
bird in a certain season? Or, when you go to country X, would you have a
reasonable chance at seeing bird Y? We are continuously working at upgrading the
information, one country at the time.

Our
work has been done out of passion for conservation. Nobody pays us to do this.
We want to help. If you appreciate our work, and if it has been of any use to
you, PLEASE visit our site Adopt A
Ranger and see how you can most effectively contribute to the conservation
of nature in the world. By paying one day of the salary of a ranger, you will
make a difference in conserving the lives of thousands of birds, plants and
other animals.

Mammals

We
have started the entry of the distribution of the mammals of the world. As a
group, Mammals are not as well studied and observed as the birds. The observation
of the
many smaller species is more difficult and many are nocturnal. So our
listings are less detailed than those of the birds. We cannot
provide lists per state-equivalent, nor can we give the detail of distribution
status that we are developing for the birds.

With
regard to common names, not all species have an English name. A French
collaborator who prefers to stay anonymous, has probably
listed the most complete list of French names from a large score of different
literature sources and we are proud to publish this list on his behalf.
The Spanish names are still an absolute chaos, usually with each name covering a
score of species. It will be a long while before a decent list can be
published for even the Hispanic regions. We have not found anything in
Portuguese. Grzmeck's Animal Encyclopedia (1973) lists a large score of
mammal names and we are currently working at entering those data in our
database. It is a good start, but it will be a while before you will find
it on our web net.

Literature

Some
of the literature consulted for both nomenclatural reference and distribution assessment
(this list will be completed later on with books currently in use overseas by
our database manager and with the
many websites that we consulted):

National
parks, nature reserves and protected areas

The lists of national
parks, nature reserves and protected areas appear as they are registered with
the United Nations Environment Programme/World Conservation Monitoring Centre
in Cambridge. Are lists are currently a bit outdates, and we are working at
updating the lists. In some cases, we have more recent and accurate
information, such as is the case for Honduras.

We need your
help

Obviously
our method has been inadequate, and we invite national ornithologists or nature
organizations to review the lists of their respective country and send us an alternative
list consisting of real records. In such case we will adopt the database and refer
to the sender of that list as the actual provider of the information. In the case
that such list is a first time publication, we will duly honour that person as the actual
author of that bird list. We are
receiving continuous emails with most valuable information to improve our database and our
website.

Moreover,
we would like to list up to some 5 ornithological hotspots per country. We consider
a location a hotspot, if more than one-third of the species native to that country have
been sited there. If we get too many hotspots for a certain country, we will discuss
with the local ornithologists, which spots we should list.

If
you would like to volunteer maintaining your nation's web page, please contact us.

The
Web Site BIRDLIST.ORG and its enormous database has
been built by junior professionals in both developing countries and the USA, guided and
supervised by senior experts of WICE, so that they can accumulate experience in birding,
zoogeography and computer skills. The team includes:

Deirdre Vreugdenhil

Justin
Pistore

Sara
Sadhegi

David
Medina

Astrid
Vreugdenhil

Carmen
Linarte

Wendy
Duran

Daan
Vreugdenhil (senior scientist)

Our
website is meant to be of scientific quality, and we think that the quality of
information in improving constantly. But our approach is different from
what scientific institutions do. We present our information in a way that
it is easily accessible to a broad public. We have applied search methods
for search engines which are quite effective and as a result we get extremely
high visitation rates. ;As we
particularly target regular friends of nature and the international travel
market, Nature World Wide enjoys far more web-traffic than regular scientific
websites. As a result we reach a completely different public than the typical
full-time conservation professionals. We reach you, member of the interested
public.

Yet,
we try to bring our information to international scientific quality. All
work is performed by young biologists who work under the guidance of senior
biologists of WICE. (Please read our disclaimer at the bottom of the
page). Therefore our website is also very valuable for professional
conservation biologists. World Wide Nature is currently elaborating a
comprehensive methodology toolbox for protected areas systems, which you may
expect to find by the end of 2002.

WICE will continue to upgrade and expand the information in this website with its in-house information as well as with information from you, the user. Any country web page can be adopted by a national society for the conservation of nature or birding, or by an individual birdwatcher, who can correct and maintain the contents of checklist of the birds of the country and add national ornithological hot spots. Such organisation or individual will be encouraged to provide a brief organisation profile or curriculum and an email address to be posted on the national web page to facilitate correspondence with birdwatchers interested in that country.

Please contact us at
if you want to adopt the web page of your
country. Or simply if you want to tell us what you think about this web site. You may correspond in
Français, Deutsch, English, Español, Português, Nederlands. Enjoy your visit at our
site!

If there is a
complete or national list in your language that you would like us to host, please
send it
to us and we will post it on the web.

If you can help
us with any foreign names, please contact us at the e-mail address at the bottom
of the page.

What
if you want to save the checklist of a country? It may be disappointing to you, Birdlist.org
does not give out or sell its database,
because we want you to actually visit our website. So, if you like the
list of a country or a certain language list, the easiest way is to print it
from your computer. Printing
instructions are included on each national page.

NATURE WORLDWIDE is the official website of the
World Institute for Conservation and Environment,
WICE. It is an integrated network of web sites dealing with different topics
on nature, nature conservation and natural resources management. Read
here why we created Nature Worldwide. Our
Methodology explains how we produced our information. Our
Site Map helps you find your
way in the website. We made this website out of passion for conservation. We
spent our own salaries and free time to gather the information and publish it on
these websites, in total valuing hundreds of thousands of dollars of
professional time. Nobody pays us to do this. We simply want to contribute to
conservation. If you appreciate our work, PLEASE visit our site
Adopt A Ranger and see how you can make
a difference for conservation most effectively: By paying one day of the salary
of a ranger, you will make a difference in conserving the lives of thousands of
birds, other critters and entire forests. check our sitemap. Enjoy!

WICE is a
worldwide non-government non-profit organization that contributes to the
conservation of nature. While it works on a many issues related to the
conservation of nature and the protection of the environment, it is particularly
committed to the conservation of national parks and other protected areas.